Game Modes (AC EPOLIS)
Table of contents
Information here applies to beatmania IIDX 31 EPOLIS.
Standard
This is the most commonly played game mode on AC.
You can play three songs, plus a potential 4th song in Extra Stage, plus a potential 5th song in One More Extra Stage.
Same song cannot be chosen more than once, unless a VIP pass is in use.
Level Limitations
There are limitations to what difficulty charts you can pick in Standard play. The table below shows the highest difficulty chart you can pick under certain conditions.
The requirements have changed in EPOLIS. If you’re outside Japan, it’s now strictly worse when compared to RESIDENT.
Standard Start
| DAN Class | 1st STAGE | 2nd STAGE | FINAL STAGE EXTRA STAGE |
|---|---|---|---|
| None - 5th Dan | LEVEL 8 | LEVEL 10 | No restrictions |
| 6th Dan | LEVEL 9 | ||
| 7th Dan and above | LEVEL 10 | LEVEL 11 |
Notably, having 8th Dan + 100 plays no longer grants you access to Level 11s in 1st stage, according to some reports.
It has been shown that having 10th Dan + 1000 plays still only gives you Level 10 in 1st stage.
It has also been shown that having Kaiden + 1000 plays still only gives you Level 10 in 1st stage.
Premium Start (Japan only)
Note that Premium start requires PASELI for each credit, only available in Japan.
| DAN Class | Play Count | 1st STAGE | 2nd STAGE | FINAL STAGE EXTRA STAGE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| None, or below 8th Dan | - | LEVEL 10 | LEVEL 11 | No restrictions | |
| 8th Dan and above | less than 100 | LEVEL 10 | LEVEL 11 | ||
| 100 or more | LEVEL 11 | ||||
Extra Stage
To enter Extra Stage, certain conditions must be met in the final stage. These are the requirements that hold true since Happy Sky.
| Level | SP Requirement | DP Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ALL GREAT clear | ALL GREAT clear |
| 2 | ||
| 3 | ||
| 4 | FULL COMBO clear | |
| 5 | FULL COMBO clear | |
| 6 | Clear with 100% gauge | |
| 7 | Clear with 100% gauge | Clear (Assist Easy gauge or above) |
| 8 | Clear (Assist Easy gauge or above) | |
| 9 | ||
| 10 | ||
| 11 | ||
| 12 |
There are important regional differences to note:
- In Japan region, PASELI must be used as the form of payment when entering Standard (Premium) mode in order to enter extra stage. (In other words, coin play cannot enter extra stage)
- This includes old IIDX cabs at American Round 1, which are on the Japanese eamuse network and PASELI cannot be used.
- In Asia region and America region (including Lightning Model cabs at American Round 1), Extra Stage can be entered even on coin play Standard mode, as PASELI is unavailable.
Additional notes:
- If two people are playing at the same time, only one player needs to meet the requirement.
Event Extra Stage / One More Extra stage
Special Extra stage and One More Extra stage can also be accessed during events. The requirements depend on the active event.
Free Modes
Free mode is visually similar to Standard mode, but is less restrictive when it comes to what songs you can play, at higher cost to you (or fewer songs).
Notable differences from Standard:
- Same song can be chosen multiple times.
- No restrictions on the difficulty level.
- Extra Stage events cannot be accessed.
There are many variations:
Free
Selectable from Mode Select. Two songs are guaranteed.
Free Plus
Selectable from Mode Select if two players are active. Three songs are guaranteed.
Hazard
In Mode Select, while Free Mode is in focus, if you press all three black keys, you can switch to Hazard mode. You are guaranteed four songs, but you play on Hazard gauge which immediately fails you out if you lose a combo. EXPAND JUDGE is disabled.
Premium Free
You are given a time limit, but you can play any number of songs without restrictions. This tends to be the most expensive option, but the most flexible way to play.
In Japan: this is a PASELI only mode, ranging from 6-30 minutes.
In regions outside of Japan: can be accessed by coin play, price configurable by operator, usually 1.5 - 2 times the price of a standard play. Fixed to 10 minutes. It can be disabled by the operator. This also the only way to play a session with V-Discs - see V-Discs section below.
Time starts counting down the moment song select screen is shown; time continues to count down during loading screens. If the timer runs out during a song, your session will end after the song ends. If the timer runs out on the song select screen, you will be able to start one last song (you are given about 15 seconds of grace period to do so).
While in song select, press VEFX + EFFECT ON keys to exit out early. While playing a song, press VEFX + EFFECT ON keys to exit out from the song. On the result screen, hold VEFX + EFFECT ON keys and press a white key to play the same chart immediately without going to the song select screen (Normal Retry feature).
If you are subscribed to eamusement Premium course and activated Platinum Members Card on the profile, you can perform Quick Retry; by holding VEFX + EFFECT ON keys during the song, you can restart the song without going through the result screen.
Step-Up
This is a “training” mode that also has a story and hidden unlockables.
Normally, three songs are guaranteed; sometimes four. Once you fill Step Up gauge by clearing songs in the Tasks folder, you can receive a ticket to play four songs instead of three the next time you play Step Up.
Tasks folder
20 random charts are provided in this folder that matches your current step-up skill level. Step-up skill level determines what level of songs show up in this folder. The skill level isn’t shown to you, it is a decimal number that is stored on your profile. This number determines what level of charts are given to you in this folder.
The step-up level is carried over from the previous version, but with an upper limit (level 9s). If you play class mode before entering Step Up mode for the first time, you will get an appropriate initial placement. If you play Step Up without doing that, you will start on level 1s.
Depending on your result, your step-up level will change. The most impactful factor is your DJ level. Getting a higher rating (AAA) will result in a greater increase.
The gauge type acts as a modifier. ASSIST-EASY or EASY gauge clear will result in a smaller increase, but failing will result in a large decrease (compared to normal gauge).
HARD and EX-HARD gauge clears will result in a slightly larger increase, but fails will have less impact than a normal gauge; however, this is negated if you fail out early in a song and end up with a very low DJ LEVEL (E or F). FULL COMBO clear will greatly increase the level.
Normally, new songs from the current versions do not show up in this folder. Once you complete the entire step-up story and see the ending, then you will start to see new songs show up.
Alternate Tasks folder (Ura)
A new folder will appear once you beat the entire “story” for step-up mode. This is similar to the regular Tasks folder, except that new songs from the current version will also show up.
Recommended Tasks for Beginners folder
New in EPOLIS.
This is a folder of ~60 songs picked across all versions (including new songs) and larger range of difficulties. Otherwise, it works the same way as the normal Tasks folder.
Review folder(s)
There are up to twelve folders for each level. You can only open folders that are 1 level below the current step-up level. It contains songs that you have already played in other modes, with the following restrictions:
- New songs from the current version will not show up.
- You must have EX-SCORE greater than 0 on it already.
- You must have the song unlocked, if it’s part of an unlock event.
- Songs played in class mode does not count as they save as “NO PLAY”, even if you have greater than 0 EX-SCORE.
Regional differences to note:
- On Japanese network using coin play, or on old J-region cabs at American Round 1, you are limited to [current level - 2] folders. In other words, review level 11 and 12 folders will not be available.
- On PASELI play, or in Asia / America region cabs, this restriction does not exist.
Saturday bonus
On Saturdays (Japan time), restrictions are lifted for review level folders.
Practice match folder
Once you fail a class in class mode, a new folder will show up to practice four songs from that course. Class mode gauge (expert gauge) is used instead; it starts at 100% in the beginning of each song, but it can be changed by holding the VEFX + EFFECT button and pressing number on the number pad.
This doesn’t show up until Chapter 2 of the story.
Level adjustment
You can adjust the amount in which your step-up level increases or decreases. Hold VEFX+Effect, and press keypad #5; cycle through 小 (small) 中 (medium) 大 (large). You need to have 8th Dan or higher to see this option.
Class Mode
Class mode (dan-i-nintei) measures your skill level by playing through a pre-defined course of four songs, and awards you with a badge of honor.
Check out the page on class mode for courses in recent versions; also Remywiki has a very good explanation of the mode and the songs in each version.
Arena
Online battle mode, or local matching (within the same store) are available. Four stages are guaranteed.
You enter a lobby with up to four players - if there are fewer than four, you are matched up with bots. Each player picks a song, and the lobby plays through four songs.
If you are not matched at least one person, you are given the option to enter FREE instead (2 songs guaranteed).
Based on your arena tier, song selection is limited to the following levels (- column is for regular beginner/normal/hyper/another charts, LEG is for Leggendaria charts)
| A | Level | B | Level | C | Level | D | Level | |||||||
| - | LEG | - | LEG | - | LEG | - | LEG | |||||||
| A1 | 12 | 12 | B1 | 12 | 11 | C1 | 10 | 10 | D1 | 9 | 9 | |||
| A2 | B2 | C2 | D2 | |||||||||||
| A3 | B3 | 11 | C3 | D3 | 8 | × | ||||||||
| A4 | B4 | C4 | D4 | |||||||||||
| A5 | B5 | C5 | D5 | 7 | ||||||||||
(table from bemaniwiki)
V-Discs
In this section, we will focus on Asia and American region cabinets for simplicity. For Japanese cabs, refer to the official site. Remember that at American Round 1 locations, Lightning Model cabs are American region, while the legacy cabs are Japan region, but PASELI cannot be used.
Earning V-Discs
For Japan region cabs, V-Disc is premium feature only available when playing with PASELI.
In other regions, only Premium Free mode provides V-Discs. You are given:
- 3 V-Discs if coin play
- 7 V-Discs if paying with PASELI
- Additional +3 V-Discs if Platinum Members card is active on the profile
Spending V-Discs
In Premium Free, 1 V-Disc is spent for each LEGGENDARIA chart played.
Conversion of unused V-Discs
At the end of each credit:
- Remaining unused V-Discs are saved to your profile. Once you collect 100 unused V-Discs, the game will forcibly exchange 100 V-Discs for one DJ VIP PASS BLACK.
- It should however be noted that unused V-Discs do not carry over to the next credit, you are only able to spend the discs given to you at the start of each credit (i.e., you can’t spend previously unused V-Discs).
DJ VIP PASS BLACK
If you have one from collecting 100 unused V-Discs – you can choose it before going into Standard mode. DJ VIP PASS BLACK gives you all V-Disc benefits for free – guarantees three stages, removes level restrictions in all stages, advances you to Extra Stage if you clear final stage without needing to meet the requirements, allows Leggendaria charts, and allows you to pick the same song more than once.